USTA 9.0 Mixed Videos

InkLInk

Played InkLink with my kids last night.  Still one of the best free online games EVER.  There is not a whole lot of activity, which is just fine with us because we are happy to have a private room to play in.  You can find it at shockwave.com.  It’s basically online Pictionary

Kristen Playing Baseball

Some footage of Kristen’s last games playing LTYA Rookie National League.  She played up with the 4th graders as a 3rd grader.

Home Videos on your TV

I posted before my goal of having all my home videos available for viewing on my HDTV in the living room.  The XBOX hasn’t quite delivered.  Lo and behold I recently gave my PS3 another try and it does circles around the XBOX! I can view all my MPEG2 video using the free TVersity Media Server application running on my PC.  I can now get rid of all the lower quality .MP4 files I created for the XBOX.  Maybe the XBOX will one day be updated to allow it to stream the same MPEG2 files; or perhaps it would work today if I knew how to set it up better.  I wonder if the iPad with iTunes running on my PC will be able to stream my video; if it can it will probably be limited to what formats it will stream (QuickTime).

I ran into the following error message on the PS3 while trying to connect to TVersity:

Media Server Error: DLNA Protocol Error (501) has occurred.

This thread lead me to this solution on the TVersity site.

The iPad is here

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I want one.   I did not run out and buy an iPhone.  I never thought it was worth the price of the monthly cell + data plan.  For sometime now, I have been watching TV shows and movies on my MacBook Pro; Cassidy has too.  She is always borrowing it on weekends to catch up on the network shows she doesn’t have time during the week to watch.  We settle in, in our favorite place on the coach, or in our bedroom, put on some headphones and have a close-up immersible experience on the laptop.  So the iPad is in effect, our second “laptop” but in a form factor that is better tailored to that personal intimate experience on the coach.  It’s not a small laptop, it’s a big iPod Touch (oh, we have 3 of those in the house).  It does not run Mac desktop software, but instead runs iPod apps plus the software that comes on it.

A pleasant surprise was the price!  I feared it would start at $1000 but the WiFi-only model starts at $500 for the 8gig model, $600 for 16gig and $700 for 32gig.  It will be available in March. In April the Wi-Fi + 3G version comes out and will be priced $629, $729, and $829.  Again there’s that data plan for 3G which I feel I can live without.

Ascii Emoticons

I needed a mischievous emoticon so I looked for one on Google.

Thought I would post some here for future reference.  Emoticons you can type are referred to ascii emoticons as opposed to icons that are inserted in email or IM.

From  WindWeaver:

HAPPY, SMILING, LAUGHING
:-)     smiling; agreeing
:-D    laughing
|-)      hee hee
|-D    ho ho
:->     hey hey
;-)      so happy, I’m crying
:’-)     crying with joy
\~/     full glass; my glass is full

TEASING, MISCHIEVOUS
;-)      winking; just kidding
‘-)       winking; just kidding
;->     devilish wink
:*)      clowning
:-T      keeping a straight face

AFFIRMING, SUPPORTING
:^D    ”Great! I like it!”
8-]     ”Wow, maaan”
:-o     ”Wow!”
^5      high five
^        thumbs up
:]       Gleep, a friendly midget who wants
to befriend you
(::()::)   bandaid; offering help or support

UNHAPPY, SAD
:-(    frowning; boo hoo
:(      sad
:-<    really sad
:-c    really unhappy
:-C   really bummed
&-|   tearful
:’      crying
:’-(   crying and really sad
:-|     grim
:[      really down
:-[     pouting
\_/    "my glass is empty"

ANGRY, SARCASTIC
>:-<   angry
:-||      angry
:-@    screaming
:-V     shouting
:-r      sticking tongue out
>:-<   absolutely livid!!
:-,      smirk
:-P     nyahhhh!
:->     bitingly sarcastic
TRYING TO COMMUNICATE
:-&    tonguetied
:-S     incoherent
:-\      undecided
:- I     "hmmm..."
:-,      "hmmm "
:-#     "My lips are sealed"
:-X    "My lips are sealed"
:-Y     a quiet aside
:-"      pursing lips
:-W    speaking with forked tongue
:( )     can't stop talking

FEELING STUPID OR TIRED
:~/     mixed up
%-)    braindead
(:I      egghead
<:-I    dunce
=:-)    hosehead
:-]      smiling blockhead
:-[      un-smiling blockhead
|-O    yawning
|-I      asleep
:-6     exhausted; wipeout

SURPRISED, INCREDULOUS, SKEPTICAL
:>    What?
:@   What?
:Q    What?
:-o   "uhh oh!" OR surprise
;-)     sardonic incredulity
:O     shocked
8-|    eyes wide with surprise
:-/     skeptical
8-O  "Omigod!!"
:-C    just totally unbelieving
|-{    "Good Grief!" (Charlie Brown)

HUGS AND KISSES
: *      kisses
:-X     a big wet kiss!
:-x      kiss kiss
:-{}    blowing a kiss
[]        hugs
(( )):**    hugs and kisses
((((name))))   hug

MISCELLANEOUS
:-*      Oops!
:-I       indifferent
\-o      bored
:-P      tongue hanging out in anticipation
O :-)   angelic; being an angel (at heart, at least)

NEW  EMOTICONS (by Tracy Marks):
][       feeling separate
] [      separating
)  (     really separating
{ }     face-to-face
[ ]      wanting to hug
}xx    kisses
()       feeling in harmony; connecting
] ?     moving away and wondering about you?
[ ?     moving toward you and wondering about you?

From Yahoo Messenger 9:

A Personal Credit Crisis

This is a great article about someone that got in trouble financially.  Even someone that should have known better was not immune to the lure of easy credit.  Read his story here.

Google Map points of interest

Kleymeyer House

Donohoe Farm

Jane’s brother has a farm with a 13-acre lake.  We always enjoy a day out there when we visit her family in Dallas.

The farm is located east of Bonham, west of Paris in Fannin County.

Satellite Photo

Photos of the farm

Toddlers & Pom Poms

I attended Cassidy’s first cheer competition.  There were High School Teams all the way down to toddlers 5 years old. There is something fundamentally wrong with seeing a 7 year old with thick bright blue glittery eye shadow and thick bright red lipstick, a bow in her head, and no front teeth!